Dental Hygiene Program

Dental Hygiene Fact Sheet

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Registered Dental Hygienists are licensed important members of the dental care team who use their knowledge and clinical skills to provide direct patient care. Strong interpersonal skills are necessary to motivate and educate patients on methods to prevent oral disease and to maintain oral health. If you enjoy helping people, working with your hands as well as your mind, and are interested in improving oral health, Dental Hygiene may be for you!

Job Description/Duties

  • Generally work with dentists to create comprehensive care plan and work collaboratively to meet oral needs of patients
  • Provide dental health and nutritional education for individuals and groups
  • Perform oral cancer screening
  • Examine periodontal (gum and bone) structure around and supporting teeth
  • Expose and interpret radiographs
  • Scaling and root planing
  • Administer local anesthetic/ nitrous oxide sedation
  • Administer topical fluoride treatments
  • Place sealants

Employment Opportunities

  • Full time and part time
  • Private practice
  • Public health/ consumer advocate
  • Teaching/administration
  • Research
  • Legislative advocate
  • Corporate representative
  • General and specialty practices
  • Hospitals
  • Nursing homes
  • Public health clinics
  • Schools

Salary and Benefits

  • Varies depending upon responsibilities and geographic location
  • Benefit packages may be provided through employer and/or as a member of the American Dental Hygienists' Association

Lifestyle

  • Very portable profession
  • Prestige–highly skilled discipline
  • Variety–work with diverse individuals/groups, children, elderly, medically compromised, dental compromised
  • Creativity–educating/motivating diverse cultures
  • Flexibility–full/part time available in variety of settings–mix and match to fit your lifestyle and goals
  • Security employment opportunities readily available year round

Career Development

  • Life-long learning is an essential component for knowledge and required for re-licensure.
  • Local and national opportunities for professional development
  • Bachelor and Master online degree completion programs available
  • Articulation agreements with some colleges or universities accept completed general education and DH courses

Education/Licensing Requirements

  • A minimum 2-year education once accepted into TMCC's dental hygiene program
  • Dental hygiene degree requires specific prerequisites for admission eligibility

Technical Standards

The prospective dental hygiene student must have the following capabilities:

  • Good hand/eye coordination and dexterity for instrumentation skills necessary for direct patient care
  • A current Health Care Provider CPR card.
  • Be free from health conditions which put others at risk

Program Prerequisites

Please note: As of fall 2012, dental hygiene applicants will be limited to repeating program prerequisite courses (sciences) once. This means students will take the course for the first time, and may repeat the same course once. Proof will be required with the application in the form of transcripts or DARS.

Must be completed prior to submitting an application:

  • Biology 223
  • Biology 224
  • Biology 251
  • Chemistry 220
  • COM 113

Twelve (12) credits of science are also included as the science requirements for the A.S. degree.

General Education (GE) Courses

All GE courses strongly recommended to be completed prior to submitting an application.

  • Diversity* (3 credits)
  • English (6 credits); required: ENG 101 & ENG 102
  • Fine Arts* (3 credits); recommended: ART 270 (meets Diversity requirement)
  • Humanities (3 credits); required: PHIL 135
  • Mathematics (6 credits); required: MATH 126 & STATS 152 (or higher math)
  • Social Science (6 credits); required: SOC 101, PSY 101
  • U.S. & NV Constitutions* (3 credits); recommended: PSC 101

* see TMCC Course Catalog for choices

Program Costs

Approximately $11,000 (subject to change). Fees associated with national and state exams cannot be determined and are over and above the program costs.

Examination and Licensure

All states require that dental hygienists be licensed. In addition to successfully graduating from an accredited dental hygiene program and passing the written Dental Hygiene National Board Examination, graduates must pass the NV State Clinical Board or Western Regional Board Examination (WREB) in order to practice dental hygiene in Nevada.

The Nevada Dental Practice Act (NRS631.290) requires that candidates for licensure be of good moral character and be citizens of the U.S. or lawfully entitled to remain and work in the U.S. Prospective students are advised that if they have a felony or misdemeanor convictions or have a history of substance abuse or infectious disease that this my preclude subsequent licensure as a dental hygienist in Nevada (NAC 631.050)

Program Requirements

DH 102 Oral Biology 4 Credits
DH 103 Head and Neck Anatomy 2 Credits
DH 104 Dental Hygiene I 3 Credits
DH 105 Intro to Clinical Practice 2 Credits
DH 107 Legal and Ethical Implications in Dental Hygiene 1 Credits
DH 110 Concepts of Oral Health 2 Credits
DH 112 Oral Radiology 3 Credits
DH 113 General and Oral Pathology 3 Credits
DH 115 Clinical Practice I 3 Credits
DH 118 Advanced Clinical Topics in Dental Hygiene 2 Credits
DH 120 Fundamentals of Nutrition in Dentistry 3 Credits
DH 202 Pharmacology 2 Credits
DH 203 Special Patients 2 Credits
DH 205 Clinical Practice II 5 Credits
DH 207 Periodontics I 2 Credits
DH 208 Community Dental Health I 2 Credits
DH 209 Pain and Anxiety Control 3 Credits
DH 211 Dental Materials and Techniques for Dental Hygienists 2 Credits
DH 214 Periodontics II 1 Credits
DH 215 Clinical Practice III 5 Credits
DH 216 Principles of Dental Practice 1 Credits
DH 218 Community Dental Health II 2 Credits
  55 Credits in Dental Hygiene
DH 299 Skills Lab 1 credit pass/fail required each semester